As a young film enthusiast, it’s always unnerving to watch films and be limited to the full effect it had on the audience because it was made before your time and in a much different era. “The Deer Hunter” was no exception. But I love it regardless of that annoyance.
“The Deer Hunter,” next to “Apocalypse Now,” is by far the best Vietnam movie ever. There’s both an epic quality to this film as well as an intimacy about it. It looks at the mental, emotional, and physical toll the war had on American soldiers unlike any other film and it shows what it did to close friends and communities.
The major sequence in the beginning is the wedding sequence. Yes, it’s lengthy, but that sequence is this film’s heart. It wouldn’t be ‘The Deer Hunter’ without it. All major characters are introduced as well as their relationship with one another.
Michael Vronsky (Robert De Niro), is the leader of his pack of four brother-like friends. Michael, Steve(John Savage), and Nick (Chris Walken), are all going to to Vietnam, while Stan(John Cazale) is left in Pennsylvania with Axel(Chick Aspegren. So the wedding sequence is both a celebration of Steve’s wedding as well as a going away party for Steve, Mike and Nick. In the middle of all this, there’s Linda(Meryl Streep)who’s Nick’s fiancee AND the object of Michael’s affections.
In Vietnam, Steve, Nick and Mike are captured by the Viet Cong and are forced to engage in endless games of Russian Roulette and with the efforts of Mike, they all escape but at a cost. Steve and Mike return home while Nick is left in Saigon. Michael is reunited with Linda, but is isolated and alienated from his surroundings.They comfort each other because she is also mourning Nick’s absence as a loss. He attempts to go back to his deer hunting ways, but can’t bring himself to shoot a deer
anymore because he now knows first-hand what it feels like to be hunted.
With a visit to a Veteran’s hospital, Steve, now a maimed, wheel-chair ridden man discloses to Mike about the money he has recieved from an annonymous sender from Siagon. Mike quickly figures out who it is and rapidly departs to Saigon in search for Nick. He finds Nick reliving his Russian Roulette ordeal by gambling with his own life. Mike shows up and desperately tries to get Nick to come back to Pennsylvania and to Linda.The rest I’ll leave to those wanting to buy this movie.
“The Deer Hunter” is an emotionally charged film. It’s a gem! It brilliantly shows ordinary men who led simple lives going into the war and emerging forever scarred and forever changed by their experiences.
The Russian Roulette scenes are the most powerful and heart-wrenching. You immediately feel the tension and fear of who will live and who will die, much like the overall reaction during the Vietnam war. You’ll never forget the looks on De Niro’s, Savage’s, and Walken’s faces in those scenes. They’re a work of art created by rare emotional intensity. All three men give the performances of their careers. Meryl Streep gives a wonderful performance as well. The chemistry between her and De Niro is vivid and captivating.
Great cinematography and wonderful contrasts between peace and chaos; Pennsylvania and Vietnam. It’s a film about friendship and courage and how it’s put to the test. It’s one of the best American films. Period. You’ll never forget it.
As Mike said, “This ain’t something else. This is this!”